We left off in the previous blog challenging Rick Santorum's contention that President Barack Obama "supports a phony theology, not based on the Bible."
But as I showed, if one goes to actual sources of revelation in scripture, one arrives at a moot dead end, because nearly every major theological question has both 'yes' and 'no' answers, hence no self consistent theology really exists! In a way this isn't too surprising, since as Biblical scholar John Dominic -Crossan has observed ('The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant', p. 422) that Yeshua's
"strategy, implicitly for himself and explicitly for his followers, was the combination of free healing and common eating, a religious and economic egalitarianism that negated alike and at once the hierarchical and patronal normalcies of Jewish religion and Roman power"
In other words, "economic egalitarianism" was at the heart of this great Rabbi's message, as well as the implicit subtext, 'do no harm to others'. Yehsua then, was an "Augustan Hippie" to use Crossan's apt description, who dunned the outward forms of theology as well as morality in favor of an intrinsic adherence to self-knowledge, truth and shared resources. Hence, his emphasis on "common eating" wherein even a small repaste would be divided equally between all those present.
The original Socialism!
Even more importantly (Crossan, ibid.):
"And lest he himself be interpreted as simply the new broker of a new God, he moved on constantly, settling down neither at Nazareth or Capernaum. He was neither broker nor mediator but, somewhat paradoxically, the announcer that neither should exist between humanity and divinity or between humanity and itself. Miracle and parable, healing and eating were calculated to force individuals into unmediated physical and spiritual contact with God and unmediated physical and spiritual contact with one another.
He announced, in other words, the borderless kingdom of God."
In other words, Yeshua boldly repudiated mediators! No priest, bishop, cardinal or pope (the bulwarks of Santorum's Catholic hierarchy) were to impede or obstruct the direct channels from humans to the divine or vice versa. THIS was the REAL theology taught, and that the immanent divine was as close to the follower as the beautiful rose, the starlit sky overhead, or the great mountains in the distance. In other words, spiritual contact extended directly to the world of nature which ....after all....was a reflection of the divine nature. (Hence, Yeshua's references to the sparrows of the air and "lilies of the field" etc. )
Again, unmediated contact was the rule, as opposed to priests and their associates impeding such contact. In this sense, one can therefore see it is Santorum who upholds the false theology or the phony one. Indeed, if Yeshua were alive today one could almost hear him say: "Be gone from me, thou whited sepulchre! Thou Pharisee!"
In Crossan's final conclusion, Jesus was a "peasant Jewish Cynic". (As Crossan points out, p. 421, a 'Cynic' embodied "a life-style and mindset in opposition to the cultural heart of Mediterranean civilization, a way of looking and dressing, of eating and living and relating, that announced its contempt for honor and shame, for patronage and clientage. ....Hippies in a world of Augustan yuppies.")
Little wonder then that Jesus' habits would infuriate not only Jewish orthodoxy but the Roman government. Leading ultimately to their ultimate attacks for what they'd have perceived as "subversion" of the Empire. Not surprisingly, those same orthodoxy upholders - like Santorum today - view Obama in an analogous way for their perception that he- Obama - is not adhering to an orthodoxy they regard as supreme.
But in fact, Obama is closer to the truth than any of those, whether Cardinals like Timothy Dolan, or their lap dogs such as Rick Santorum.
For example, just as Yeshua's economic egalitarianism was reflected in his practice of common healing and common eating, Obama's economic egalitarianism has been reflected in his Patient and Affordable Care Act which enables every American in every walk of life to obtain the health care he or she needs. In addition, his call for the wealthiest to assume greater tax burdens discloses his awareness of how an insidious inequality is destroying our Republic from within - by causing people to trust each other less and less. Yeshua would be proud!
Lastly, Santorum claimed that "radical environmentalists share Obama's world view that elevates the Earth above man and says we can't use those resources because we're going to harm the Earth"
Which is bare bollocks! Indeed, this passage -quote of Santorum's shows he possesses such a stupendous ignorance that he has no business even thinking about being President.
Further, NO "radical environmenalist" asserts or claims the "Earth is above man" but rather the Earth is the sole finite habitation that can provide for human life....but only if there is proper, judicious stewardship of its resources. If we squander those resources now, owing to an immediate greed, there will be nothing left for future generations...including drinkable water.
In other words, the Earth's resources are the basis for supporting human life! Destroy that basis, that limited abode ...and you take out human life with it. In effect, our lives as humans are inextricably bound to the resources on this little orb. Divest "Spaceship Earth" of its finite supplies, or overpopulate that "ship" so that the supplies are inadequate, and all perish!
This is not a novel concept but an ancient one predicated on judicious stewardship. This concept is called Oikonomia, from the Greek meaning "preservation of the household". The central notion is that all strands of the World Web of Life are equally important. No strand is primary or pre-eminent to exclusion of all others. If the human strand is designated superior, in order to justify the extermination or consumption of all other strands, then the whole life web collapses with humans along with it.
Oikonomia regards the Earth as a finite, unitary whole. That is, while limited in terms of resources, it is nonetheless interconnected, e.g. sea water evaporates to form clouds, which later transit land to deposit rain, etc. Interlocked with this concept of 'unitary finitude' is a related one: the Earth is here solely for humankind's temporary use, not wholesale exhaustion (including irreversible pollution) of resources.
Further, the ethic of the shared household implies resources are accessible to all inhabitants equally - including those not yet born! This demands judicious harvesting, husbanding and distribution of resources. The objective is long term: to ensure that future generations can use them also.
The view above is opposed to the imperative of short term gain: the 'profit-over-all else' ethic. In the long term perspective it is unthinkable that global resources, including timberlands, atmosphere and oceans, be exclusively earmarked for development and formation of capital. Such a mindset is inherently selfish since it exalts its own well-being to absolute status. At the same time, future generations are condemned to destitution and deprivation. It is flawed because it elevates one strand or 'strand segment' over the whole web of life. The imperative of Oikonomia is to engage a familial dynamic. This brings the strands back into balance with each other.
In this context, it is Santorum's theology which is both odious and pathological. It would dismiss the well being of billions in order to hyper-populate one religion, using the ruse of "prohibiting artificial birth control". In this way, the Catholics think they can win in their blatantly demographic "contest for world conquest" (i.e. outdo the others by sheer numbers) but fail to see they will take everything and everyone down with them. Pyrrhic victory, anyone?
This is why Obama's birth control mandate must be allowed to go through because it recognizes the greater good that redounds to the benefit of us all. Santorum and his sanctimonious apologists, including Catholic Bishops, cannot be allowed to have the final say...whether over women's bodies...or the welfare of not yet born humans. Humans who will curse us to their dying day if we end up leaving them only a barren, hellish husk of a world with nothing to eat.....or even drink.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Santorum Has No Clue About REAL Christianity (1)
Yet more evidence has come to the fore that Reep candidate Rick Santorum is totally out of his depth, and apart from that ....would be a disaster on a national political "Richter scale" of at least '10' if people were stupid enough to catapult him into the Oval office. (Recall how his main PAC funder Foster Freeze, opined that in his day "women practiced birth control by squeezing a Bayer aspirin between their legs". Why any intelligent woman of full consciousness would vote for his little whelp, Rick Santorum, is beyond me when it's clear his numero uno policy would be to keep all females under 40 barefoot and pregnant.
But I digress.
This blog concerns Santorum's recent attacks on Barack Obama to the effect the President is "not a real Christian" and that he adheres to a "false theology". Or has he expatiated, "a phony theology ...not one based on the Bible".
Which brings up an interesting question: Is there a self-consistent theology expressed in the Bible? By which I mean, if a biblical literalist read its assorted words - without interpretation (which implies one can't take it literally) they would reflect the same moral orders, choices, behaviors?
A good way to begin is to examine different quotations concerning major Christian beliefs, or what are deemed so, and to ascertain if there are contradictions. If these occur, then one could argue there is no self-consistent theology which rest on uniform beliefs.
Examples with pertinent question given followed by the citations for 'yes' and 'no' answers:
1)Are unsaved sinners eternally tormented?
Yes: Isa 33:14; Mt 13:40-42, 25:41,46; Mk 9:43-48; Jude 6-7; Re 14:10-11
NO: Eze 18:4; Mt 7:13, 10:28; Lu 13:3,5; John 3:15-16; Ac 3:23; 1Co 15:18; 2Th 2:10; Heb 10:39; 2Pe 3:7,9
2) Will everyone get saved?
Yes: John 12:32; Ro 5:18, 11:32; 1Co 15:22; Col 1:20; 1Ti 2:4,6; 1Jo 2:2
NO: Mt 7:13-14; Lu 13:23-24
3) Is one who believes in God's son, but who has never repented, saved?
Yes: John 3:15-16,36, 6:40,47, 11:25; Ac 16:31; Ro 10:9; 1Jo 5:12
NO: Lu 13:3,5
4) Is one who is very moral and charitable, but who has never repented, saved?
YES: Mt 19:16-17, 25:34-40,46; Mk 10:17-21; Lu 10:25-37, 18:18-22; John 5:28-29, 8:51; Ro 2:5-7,10; Jas 2:24
NO: Luke 13:3,5
5) Is one who is very moral and charitable, but who does not believe in God’s son, saved?
YES: Mt 19:16-17, 25:34-40,46; Mk 10:17-21; Lu 10:25-37, 18:18-22; John 5:28-29, 8:51; Ro 2:5-7,10; Jas 2:24
NO: Mk 16:16; John 3:18,36, 8:21-25, 14:6; Ac 4:10-12; 1Jo 5:12
Even from this small subset or sample one can see wide divergence in belief, emanating from the so-called revealed sources, and hence in theology. Hence, one can argue Santorum doesn't know what he's talking about.
But let's even go him one better. In 2 KINGS 2:23-24, we see that:
2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
depicted in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlrg22GjM8
But I digress.
This blog concerns Santorum's recent attacks on Barack Obama to the effect the President is "not a real Christian" and that he adheres to a "false theology". Or has he expatiated, "a phony theology ...not one based on the Bible".
Which brings up an interesting question: Is there a self-consistent theology expressed in the Bible? By which I mean, if a biblical literalist read its assorted words - without interpretation (which implies one can't take it literally) they would reflect the same moral orders, choices, behaviors?
A good way to begin is to examine different quotations concerning major Christian beliefs, or what are deemed so, and to ascertain if there are contradictions. If these occur, then one could argue there is no self-consistent theology which rest on uniform beliefs.
Examples with pertinent question given followed by the citations for 'yes' and 'no' answers:
1)Are unsaved sinners eternally tormented?
Yes: Isa 33:14; Mt 13:40-42, 25:41,46; Mk 9:43-48; Jude 6-7; Re 14:10-11
NO: Eze 18:4; Mt 7:13, 10:28; Lu 13:3,5; John 3:15-16; Ac 3:23; 1Co 15:18; 2Th 2:10; Heb 10:39; 2Pe 3:7,9
2) Will everyone get saved?
Yes: John 12:32; Ro 5:18, 11:32; 1Co 15:22; Col 1:20; 1Ti 2:4,6; 1Jo 2:2
NO: Mt 7:13-14; Lu 13:23-24
3) Is one who believes in God's son, but who has never repented, saved?
Yes: John 3:15-16,36, 6:40,47, 11:25; Ac 16:31; Ro 10:9; 1Jo 5:12
NO: Lu 13:3,5
4) Is one who is very moral and charitable, but who has never repented, saved?
YES: Mt 19:16-17, 25:34-40,46; Mk 10:17-21; Lu 10:25-37, 18:18-22; John 5:28-29, 8:51; Ro 2:5-7,10; Jas 2:24
NO: Luke 13:3,5
5) Is one who is very moral and charitable, but who does not believe in God’s son, saved?
YES: Mt 19:16-17, 25:34-40,46; Mk 10:17-21; Lu 10:25-37, 18:18-22; John 5:28-29, 8:51; Ro 2:5-7,10; Jas 2:24
NO: Mk 16:16; John 3:18,36, 8:21-25, 14:6; Ac 4:10-12; 1Jo 5:12
Even from this small subset or sample one can see wide divergence in belief, emanating from the so-called revealed sources, and hence in theology. Hence, one can argue Santorum doesn't know what he's talking about.
But let's even go him one better. In 2 KINGS 2:23-24, we see that:
2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
depicted in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlrg22GjM8
Where we see that because 42 children "mocked" a prophet he called the divine wrath down on them leading to their being torn to shreds by she bears!
Is THIS the Biblical theology to which Santorum subscribes? So, if 42 kids mocked him and called him names he'd call down his god's wrath on them....to deliver some horrific revenge?
Or, would he concede that the fable told in Kings is not to be taken literally, and hence not its theology either? Which means then, that "biblical theology" is nowhere near as cut and dried as he supposes when he lashes out at Obama!
More to come!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences Has Totally Gone into the Ozone!
The speculation has grown, one could say - metastasized- for years, that the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences has slowly been losing its way, evolving into an ever more isolated enclave of elitist "insider" tastes. Now, the buzz is mounting that they have really jumped the shark, and are prepared to award this year's "Best Picture" Oscar to....get this, a back and white, SILENT French film, "The Artist". Are you effing kidding me?
This is the year 2012, not 1912! We do not, I repeat do not, award Oscars for Best Picture to gimmicky black and white silent movies!
Here's the deal: as movie prices are now jacked up to the point that movie attendance has dropped off precipitously, and one must expect to shell out at least $25 for two, for the film plus just a diet coke and small popcorn, why would you pump and hump a silent black and white movie? Oh wait! I got it! To entice the elites to drool all over themselves at their impeccable "artistic" taste and refined perceptions ....which vastly exceed ....by light years...the Philistine tastes of the hoi polloi, otherwise known as the "masses".
In other words, just another example of exalted tastes in which to rub the noses of the not so well off . We already beheld, after all, in an earlier blog "Lex" and his take on the grandiose tastes of the elites, e.g
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/02/hey-poor-white-folks-learn-morals-from.html
Quoting "Lex" therein:
"A cultural gap separates the Elite from other Americans. They seldom watch 'Oprah' or Judge Judy', in fact they do not watch much television at all. They eat in restaurants but not at Applebee's, Denny's or Waffle House...chains that cater to the common taste. They read The Economist and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and they drink wine and boutique beers.....but only in moderation and never smoke cigarettes."
Now we can add:
They opt to see refined French black and white movies like "The Artist" as opposed to degenerate common fare like "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" or...."War Horse"
But in fact, the last two films beat any modern silent black and white film twice on Sundays and any given day of the week. (I do not rule out ever seeing b&w silent fare, since the 1927 German flick 'Metropolis" is one of my favorites, as well as "Nosferatu"- but there is no sound basis for such in 2012!) Not only is "Girl" - with Rooney Mara in the star role as an iconoclast hacker - a terrific flick, but Mara deserve the "Best Actress" for her peformance. It is certainly worth paying out $25 for, and not regretting it ten minutes later! Same with "War Horse", a spell binding film which definitely hasn't received the credit it's due.
Anyway, we shall see come next Sunday night.
We will see if the Academy selects a film with appeal to only a very tiny subset of the population, the monied Elites who can afford to piss away $25 or even $50 on a black and white silent film, or respect the tastes of the hard working 99 percent. My bet is they will go with the elites.
Maybe the time really has come for two separate sets of Oscars. One for the movies with mass appeal and terrific entertainment value, like "War Horse", and the other for the toffy-nosed brie and wine crowd who fancy themselves - with their special "adjustable" - toilet seat warming and spray-drier commodes - above the rest of us!
This is the year 2012, not 1912! We do not, I repeat do not, award Oscars for Best Picture to gimmicky black and white silent movies!
Here's the deal: as movie prices are now jacked up to the point that movie attendance has dropped off precipitously, and one must expect to shell out at least $25 for two, for the film plus just a diet coke and small popcorn, why would you pump and hump a silent black and white movie? Oh wait! I got it! To entice the elites to drool all over themselves at their impeccable "artistic" taste and refined perceptions ....which vastly exceed ....by light years...the Philistine tastes of the hoi polloi, otherwise known as the "masses".
In other words, just another example of exalted tastes in which to rub the noses of the not so well off . We already beheld, after all, in an earlier blog "Lex" and his take on the grandiose tastes of the elites, e.g
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/02/hey-poor-white-folks-learn-morals-from.html
Quoting "Lex" therein:
"A cultural gap separates the Elite from other Americans. They seldom watch 'Oprah' or Judge Judy', in fact they do not watch much television at all. They eat in restaurants but not at Applebee's, Denny's or Waffle House...chains that cater to the common taste. They read The Economist and the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal, and they drink wine and boutique beers.....but only in moderation and never smoke cigarettes."
Now we can add:
They opt to see refined French black and white movies like "The Artist" as opposed to degenerate common fare like "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" or...."War Horse"
But in fact, the last two films beat any modern silent black and white film twice on Sundays and any given day of the week. (I do not rule out ever seeing b&w silent fare, since the 1927 German flick 'Metropolis" is one of my favorites, as well as "Nosferatu"- but there is no sound basis for such in 2012!) Not only is "Girl" - with Rooney Mara in the star role as an iconoclast hacker - a terrific flick, but Mara deserve the "Best Actress" for her peformance. It is certainly worth paying out $25 for, and not regretting it ten minutes later! Same with "War Horse", a spell binding film which definitely hasn't received the credit it's due.
Anyway, we shall see come next Sunday night.
We will see if the Academy selects a film with appeal to only a very tiny subset of the population, the monied Elites who can afford to piss away $25 or even $50 on a black and white silent film, or respect the tastes of the hard working 99 percent. My bet is they will go with the elites.
Maybe the time really has come for two separate sets of Oscars. One for the movies with mass appeal and terrific entertainment value, like "War Horse", and the other for the toffy-nosed brie and wine crowd who fancy themselves - with their special "adjustable" - toilet seat warming and spray-drier commodes - above the rest of us!
The Wealthiest One Percent Get Even More Ridiculous!
One of the newest toys for the wealthy: A designer dining table with built-in waterfall for only $50 grand!The wealthiest 1 percent grow more ridiculous by the second! As time goes on ever more evidence grows that they have so much money they simply don't know what the hell to do with it (but one thing you can be sure they won't do is pay their fair share in taxes!). The latest evidence of excess wealth concerns the latest toys, appliances and goodies with which the richest now ply themselves and that they regard as necessities.
Case in point: the dining table equipped with its own built-in waterfall (see attached image). The rich guy whose home currently featured this gizmo noted that he got bored just dining poolside so decided to purchase this special "waterfall table" for a cool 50 grand. As he put it: "No biggie, really. It was barely one tenth of what I get back from the Bush tax cuts each year!"
Of course, no truly rich fucker - especially if he has dogs- can afford to be without his own "Forever Canine Lawn" featuring a high-end astroturf surface that has a flow through backing which drains effluent from doggies plus - get this, anti-microbial blades chemically treated to quickly (within ten seconds, break down pet waste and whisk it away. Out of sight, out of mind, and no poop scoops for the rich to have to dirty their dainty little hands. Plus....no more urine burns for their special chemically -treated lawns. (Oh, don't worry about them getting cancers from the chemicals like ordinary mortals, they all have Cadillac health insurance plans).
Oh....oh....wait! Am I waging "class warfare"? Tough shit! In this country one must wage it wherever and however he can to re-instill a sense of class consciousness to replace the false consciousness that has inundated so many!
But let's carry on.
Obviously, if Mr. or Mrs. One Percent has such fancy dancy stuff to take care of dog doo, you can be sure they have even fancier gadgets, errr.....toilets...to take care of their own business. So no surprise that the 150 grand all-purpose commode is a current fave among the jet set and other one percenters that take off each weekend for St. Kitts or St. Martens for a lobster thermidor feast, or 18 holes.
The special commode apparatus is designed to accommodate any 1,200 sq. foot "Master Bathroom" and includes a "wall-mounted LED pad that looks like an i-phone" (Denver Post,Feb. 18, p. 8D) and which "auto-magically raises and lowers the toilet seat or lid" without having to actually touch it. Just imagine, folks, fellow 99 percenters, how many gazillions of nasty microbes the wealthiest can now avoid thanks to this 'must have' commode!
Once the rich mount the seat they then have the option of using a remote to automatically heat the seat, lest their heinies gather wrinkles from the too cold surface. We can't have them freezing their little butts off, after all. In addition, the remote allows music - classical or jazz- take your pick, to be played as the seat is warmed and presumably while the wealthiest churn out their wealthy "products" from all that foie gras, lobsters, calimari, shrimp cocktails, and whatnot they've consumed.
No doubt while they are cogitating on the poor 99 percenters who don't even have jobs...or in many cases homes...
After conducting their business, the rich need not mess with toilet paper since the special commode - at one touch of the remote - "sprays and dries" and even features "adjustable flushing".
Now, the PR circulating is that these are merely "showcase homes" and the doodads featured are not meant to be taken seriously. In other words, we aren't to actually literally believe that anyone actually possesses them. Don't believe this for a nanosecond! If they exist, and are now in showcase homes, some one - of the one percent persuasion, already had them and merely lent out a few appliances for display purposes, or gave an older version away.
All of which entices us, the 99 percent, to return to the issue of "excess wealth". While Karl Marx never really specifically addressed it, a whole group of Caribbean Socialists based at the Univ. of the West Indies did in the late 1970s. Their main theme was that any capital used for "frivolous" purposes could be regarded as excess, and they generally set a criterion that in a nation such as the U.S. - anything over $10 million had to be excess wealth. Making allowances for where one lived, if one had money left over to burn ...say on $150 grand commodes, one was awash in excess wealth.
Religions commonly retain the notion of "tithing" or giving away at least ten percent of earnings, including capital gains. But the Caribbean socialists of the 1970s, including Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, maintained that 50% ought to not be too much to part with for a hyper rich capitalist. For the top one percent in the U.S. one may argue that anything over what those Bush tax cuts provide is definitely excess wealth....and hence,...if they don't voluntarily give that money back in some way, say to homeless charities, then Uncle Sam needs to help them out.
Towards that objective, let us hope the Bush tax cuts finally meet their justified end by December of this year!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Why Can't Colorado Follow The Grand Junction Health Delivery Model?
At the top of the news lately in Colorado is the divergent cost of health care, as exemplified by the recent case of uninsured Justin Swanstrom (Denver Post, p. 1A, 6A) who went into more than $60,000 in debt after having a heart attack. Meanwhile, those on any kind of insurance, whether private or Medicare, are charged significantly less....WHY?
According to Serena Woods of the Colorado Consumer Health Inititiative (ibid.):
"The uninsured are charged considerably more than the insured in Colorado."
She went on to point out that a proposed new bill would "give people more chances to take responsiblity"
It would do this by peeling away the cost cloaking of most hospital bills and provide transparency. It would even go further by providing the basis for a standard set of costs-prices for all procedures, whether appendectomies, gall bladder removal, or open heart surgery. Thus, according to a standard cost set, each procedure will have its assigned, designated prices- say $11,000 for an appy, $35,000 for open heart surgery...whatever. No more charging one guy $60 grand and another $30 grand for the same surgery.
Backers of the bill cite a 2009 American Journal of Medicine study that found medical debt to the the driver for 62% of all personal bankruptcies, up from 8% in 1981. This is totally ridiculous!
And yet industry groups, like the Colorado Hospital Association, are claiming it will "increase the cost of health care and impede access".
They also add (Denver Post, Feb. 17, p. 1B):
that this amounts to "price fixing that will ruin many facilities"
Horse manure!
WHY?
Maybe these hospital hotshots ought to take a good hard look at T.R. Reid's latest PBS effort, screened two nights ago - U.S. Health Care: The Good News . Reid traveled to three distinct U.S. municipalities - not Communist Cuba or anywhere "socialist" - where every person including the uninsured received medical care, and no one was turned away....not even Medicaid patients! The places included Seattle, and Evergreen, Washington, and Grand Junction, Colorado.
That's right, Colorado Hospital Association, Grand Junction, Colorado! Reid found an eminently rational model in which all patients are pooled together in one risk pool to lower the cost for all. All physicians in Grand Junction sign on to take any and all comers, no one indiscriminately turned away for whatever reason....whether Medicaid (low rates of pay, paperwork) or the uninsured. Any physician who doesn't agree is excluded from the Main physician network. He can go it alone and catch as catch can.
Each "in house" physician treats not only the patient's physical well being but also with an eye to his or her fiscal well being. This mission and network includes FIXED pricing for each procedure irrespective of what insurance vehicle one has....or doesn't. In this way, the delivery of care is rendered uniform without wild variations in costs, and in addition, costs can be controlled - especially as unnecessary procedures (say undertaken just to stir up cash flow) are frowned upon.
The implementation as portrayed on PBS:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2198039605/
was a model of simplicity, belying Cole White's claim (D.Post, ibid.) that "it is complicated".
No it isn't! It's eminently simple...IF you're out to serve people and not merely rake in profits!
The Grand Junction model was brought to Reid's attention by Dr. Elliott Fisher, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, noting " that about 30 percent of what we spend on health care is unnecessary".
Grand Junction's success at cost-saving was highlighted in The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care . The accumulated data - extracted from billing records compiled from hospitals across the nation, discovered variations from one town to the next in the treatment of the same ailment. This leads to massive variation in the cost of treating the same ailment. As a result, some U.S. localities (like Miami) spend $17,000 per year on the average Medicare patient, while others (in Grand Junction) spend less than $7,000 per year with results that are just as good.
This led Reid to investigate what made Grand Junction different. For this reason I commend the video link to all readers to watch, at least for the introductory Grand Junction segment - lasting maybe 15 mins.
Unlike the hospitals that gouge the uninsured patients like Justin Swanstrom, the ones Reid encountered featured communities that have several important things in common, including a clear commitment by doctors and hospitals to lower the cost of health care.
I would strongly advise the Colorado Hospital Association defenders of the status quo to watch that PBS program....then try to come up with more excuses for not doing what Grand Junction is to deliver high quality medical care at lower cost.
According to Serena Woods of the Colorado Consumer Health Inititiative (ibid.):
"The uninsured are charged considerably more than the insured in Colorado."
She went on to point out that a proposed new bill would "give people more chances to take responsiblity"
It would do this by peeling away the cost cloaking of most hospital bills and provide transparency. It would even go further by providing the basis for a standard set of costs-prices for all procedures, whether appendectomies, gall bladder removal, or open heart surgery. Thus, according to a standard cost set, each procedure will have its assigned, designated prices- say $11,000 for an appy, $35,000 for open heart surgery...whatever. No more charging one guy $60 grand and another $30 grand for the same surgery.
Backers of the bill cite a 2009 American Journal of Medicine study that found medical debt to the the driver for 62% of all personal bankruptcies, up from 8% in 1981. This is totally ridiculous!
And yet industry groups, like the Colorado Hospital Association, are claiming it will "increase the cost of health care and impede access".
They also add (Denver Post, Feb. 17, p. 1B):
that this amounts to "price fixing that will ruin many facilities"
Horse manure!
WHY?
Maybe these hospital hotshots ought to take a good hard look at T.R. Reid's latest PBS effort, screened two nights ago - U.S. Health Care: The Good News . Reid traveled to three distinct U.S. municipalities - not Communist Cuba or anywhere "socialist" - where every person including the uninsured received medical care, and no one was turned away....not even Medicaid patients! The places included Seattle, and Evergreen, Washington, and Grand Junction, Colorado.
That's right, Colorado Hospital Association, Grand Junction, Colorado! Reid found an eminently rational model in which all patients are pooled together in one risk pool to lower the cost for all. All physicians in Grand Junction sign on to take any and all comers, no one indiscriminately turned away for whatever reason....whether Medicaid (low rates of pay, paperwork) or the uninsured. Any physician who doesn't agree is excluded from the Main physician network. He can go it alone and catch as catch can.
Each "in house" physician treats not only the patient's physical well being but also with an eye to his or her fiscal well being. This mission and network includes FIXED pricing for each procedure irrespective of what insurance vehicle one has....or doesn't. In this way, the delivery of care is rendered uniform without wild variations in costs, and in addition, costs can be controlled - especially as unnecessary procedures (say undertaken just to stir up cash flow) are frowned upon.
The implementation as portrayed on PBS:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2198039605/
was a model of simplicity, belying Cole White's claim (D.Post, ibid.) that "it is complicated".
No it isn't! It's eminently simple...IF you're out to serve people and not merely rake in profits!
The Grand Junction model was brought to Reid's attention by Dr. Elliott Fisher, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, noting " that about 30 percent of what we spend on health care is unnecessary".
Grand Junction's success at cost-saving was highlighted in The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care . The accumulated data - extracted from billing records compiled from hospitals across the nation, discovered variations from one town to the next in the treatment of the same ailment. This leads to massive variation in the cost of treating the same ailment. As a result, some U.S. localities (like Miami) spend $17,000 per year on the average Medicare patient, while others (in Grand Junction) spend less than $7,000 per year with results that are just as good.
This led Reid to investigate what made Grand Junction different. For this reason I commend the video link to all readers to watch, at least for the introductory Grand Junction segment - lasting maybe 15 mins.
Unlike the hospitals that gouge the uninsured patients like Justin Swanstrom, the ones Reid encountered featured communities that have several important things in common, including a clear commitment by doctors and hospitals to lower the cost of health care.
I would strongly advise the Colorado Hospital Association defenders of the status quo to watch that PBS program....then try to come up with more excuses for not doing what Grand Junction is to deliver high quality medical care at lower cost.
Why Are Rabbis Helping Out The Vatican in Issa's Contraceptive 'Dog and Pony' Show?
The image in today's New York Times were perplexing to say the least. There was California Gooper Darryl Issa flaunting his House investigation of the Obama adminstration's contraceptive compromise and with a host of toadies (all male, btw) to profess on why and how women didn't merit: a) free access to birth control methods that work (we are obviously excluding the "rhythm method" of Catholics, and b) autonomy over their own bodies.....with the implicit inference that they were owned by the all male patriarchy of the Catholic church. And to make it even more odious, offering that these aims were valid ones in order to "protect religious liberty"!
And who was sitting there to help these patriarchal RC miscreants out? Jews! Rabbis! HOW does this compute? Do these Rabbis possess any recollection of their own recent history? Why are they assisting in this Obama witch hunt and kangaroo tribunal against American women, when the Vatican no less, aided more than 10,000 of the worst S.S. butchers and vermin to escape alone "ratlines" during and after World War II. Much of this is documented in the book, Unholy Trinity- The Vatican, The Nazis, And the Swiss Banks, by Mark Aarons and John Loftus (St. Martins Press, 1998) This is documented also in Clive Poynting's 'Armageddon' as well as Christopher Simpson's 'Blowback: America's recruitment of Nazis, and its disastrous effect on our domestic and foreign policy' for which readers can obtain an excerpted segment here: Ratlines-Blowback
One of the most vile S.S. butchers of all, that every living breathing Jew ought to remember (and put into memory, especially the ones participating in Issa's 3-ring circus) is Franz Stangl, the Kommandant of Treblinka....where 935,000 Jews were dispatched to the gas chambers ('Totenlager') and ovens.
The details of this scum's post-war life were evidently unearthed over a period of years by a German journalist, Gitta Sereny - published in two separate books, 'Into That Darkness' and 'The Healing Wound' with the first most concerned with Stangl and summarized in John Kekes' excellent book, The Roots of Evil, Cornell University Press, 2005, pp. 48-63.
The key information is on page 54 of Keke's book, to do with Stangl's post war escape:
"After the war he was briefly interned by the American forces. He as released, made his way to Rome and from there - with the help of the escape route the Vatican had arranged for many fleeing Nazis, he went into Syria. He got a job first in a textile mill, and later as a mechanical engineer.....he did well, earned an excellent salary and got his family to join him."
Note how this bastard prospered, even as the ashes of 6 million Jews lay in assorted places from Chelmno to Mauthausen to Treblinka to Auschwitz! And who helped thousands of the vermin to escape? THE VATICAN!!
But neither did Stangl remain in Syria, ultimately escaping along the main ratlines to Brazil (p. 60) where he quickly landed a planning position for Volkswagen and enjoyed the high life!
Now true, this slime was arrested by Brazilian police and extradited to West Germany in 1968 (p. 55) where he remained in prison until he died of a heart attack in 1971, but for more than 22 years after the war he lived the good life - while those he sent to their deaths (including tens of thousands of children) never got to see one more day of sunlight, green grass or warmth!
My point is, knowing how the Vatican helped such slime, and how the Union of Catholic Bishops now attempting to undermine American women are in league with the Vatican, how can any right thinking Jew assist in this "investigation" - - which has more in common (including the exclusion of key witnesses for the other side) with Hitler's Reich Courts than anything else.
Jews, especially Rabbis, need to take a good hard look at their own consciences, and ask if they are really helping to protect "religious liberty" or helping a bunch that already assisted the worst butchers on the planet to escape their just fates - even as they now seek to help the RC Bishops speciously justify the abandonment of American women to backroom butchery, coathangers (the result of births they never wanted) and horrific potions....to achieve what the simple birth control they now seek would safely permit- if only they could get it without going broke!
And who was sitting there to help these patriarchal RC miscreants out? Jews! Rabbis! HOW does this compute? Do these Rabbis possess any recollection of their own recent history? Why are they assisting in this Obama witch hunt and kangaroo tribunal against American women, when the Vatican no less, aided more than 10,000 of the worst S.S. butchers and vermin to escape alone "ratlines" during and after World War II. Much of this is documented in the book, Unholy Trinity- The Vatican, The Nazis, And the Swiss Banks, by Mark Aarons and John Loftus (St. Martins Press, 1998) This is documented also in Clive Poynting's 'Armageddon' as well as Christopher Simpson's 'Blowback: America's recruitment of Nazis, and its disastrous effect on our domestic and foreign policy' for which readers can obtain an excerpted segment here: Ratlines-Blowback
One of the most vile S.S. butchers of all, that every living breathing Jew ought to remember (and put into memory, especially the ones participating in Issa's 3-ring circus) is Franz Stangl, the Kommandant of Treblinka....where 935,000 Jews were dispatched to the gas chambers ('Totenlager') and ovens.
The details of this scum's post-war life were evidently unearthed over a period of years by a German journalist, Gitta Sereny - published in two separate books, 'Into That Darkness' and 'The Healing Wound' with the first most concerned with Stangl and summarized in John Kekes' excellent book, The Roots of Evil, Cornell University Press, 2005, pp. 48-63.
The key information is on page 54 of Keke's book, to do with Stangl's post war escape:
"After the war he was briefly interned by the American forces. He as released, made his way to Rome and from there - with the help of the escape route the Vatican had arranged for many fleeing Nazis, he went into Syria. He got a job first in a textile mill, and later as a mechanical engineer.....he did well, earned an excellent salary and got his family to join him."
Note how this bastard prospered, even as the ashes of 6 million Jews lay in assorted places from Chelmno to Mauthausen to Treblinka to Auschwitz! And who helped thousands of the vermin to escape? THE VATICAN!!
But neither did Stangl remain in Syria, ultimately escaping along the main ratlines to Brazil (p. 60) where he quickly landed a planning position for Volkswagen and enjoyed the high life!
Now true, this slime was arrested by Brazilian police and extradited to West Germany in 1968 (p. 55) where he remained in prison until he died of a heart attack in 1971, but for more than 22 years after the war he lived the good life - while those he sent to their deaths (including tens of thousands of children) never got to see one more day of sunlight, green grass or warmth!
My point is, knowing how the Vatican helped such slime, and how the Union of Catholic Bishops now attempting to undermine American women are in league with the Vatican, how can any right thinking Jew assist in this "investigation" - - which has more in common (including the exclusion of key witnesses for the other side) with Hitler's Reich Courts than anything else.
Jews, especially Rabbis, need to take a good hard look at their own consciences, and ask if they are really helping to protect "religious liberty" or helping a bunch that already assisted the worst butchers on the planet to escape their just fates - even as they now seek to help the RC Bishops speciously justify the abandonment of American women to backroom butchery, coathangers (the result of births they never wanted) and horrific potions....to achieve what the simple birth control they now seek would safely permit- if only they could get it without going broke!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Ben Bernanke Says You're Not Really Seeing Higher Prices
It must be nice to be one of the Elites, and to inhabit such a rarefied, nosebleed ozone that such things as exploding prices have no meaning other than "made up numbers" and "statistics". But there it is! When one partakes of the Pareto Distribution nonsense and mistakes that for reality in terms of "optimization" and "efficiency" then one will witness such inverse reality sideshows as the wealthiest 1% now owning 1/3 of all resources, while the top 1% of income earners have 25% of all income in the nation, even while more than 13 million remain unemployed.
But in the world of the Elite, the Political Elite - like the world of Ben Bernanke - real prices have zero meaning and all that matters is whether a biased statistical measure, weighted toward Vilfredo Pareto's confection.....errr....creation.....makes sense.
Pork chops now $4.95 a pound? The cheapest hamburger at $5.50? Even veggies' prices going up through the roof? Gasoline at $3.50 a gallon? What about the rent which just got raised by another $100 a month? How about the meds like I have to take that just went from $210 for 90 to $480?
Hey folks, are you gonna believe your lying eyes or Ben Bernanke?
According to Ben (WSJ, today, p. B1, 'Consumers Price in Real Cost of Living'), all such costs as food, housing - even exploding rent, as well as meds - which are referred to as "shelter costs" are - get this:"essentially made up numbers" to quote Mr. Bernanke. Well, here's an easy question: if all those shelter costs including groceries are "made up" numbers, how about we pay the costs of them in "made up money"? Maybe I will just present an ideational, invisible "made up" $50 bill next time I go to the check out counter. "Here, Mr. Clerk, see this fifty ....no, no you CAN see it if you try! It's not just in my head! But see, I am using this made up entity to purchase goods which have prices that - according to our Federal Reserve Chairman, constitute "made up numbers"!
Now, anyone care to speculate how far that gig would get me? How about either a fast trip to the funny farm, or more likely, getting booted out of the grocery mart one time.
Bottom line, according to Bernanke's statistics, higher costs of gasoline, groceries, rent and so forth - while not directly in our heads- are of no concern to him as regards inflation. After all, the CPI or consumer price index, is gamed to lowball the impact of these shelter costs so that even if inflation is really going up by about 2% a month, to Bernanke and his Pareto-stats it is really ZERO since his statistics (like the 'owner's equivalent rent") don't show up anything worth fretting over. Thus, he can jolly well continue to keep interest rates near zero - giving all the stock investors major Joneses - while savers and ordinary mortals who have to pay costs in the real world suck salt.
Of course, this is one reason why inequality reigns, and why - according to an article in the current Playboy, the US of A is an "inequality-generating machine". How could it not be when high rollers are granted such tax breaks that now CEOs earn 300 times the average worker, when it was barely 30 times in 1960? Or when ordinary folks must scrunch and scramble to even scrape together enough to buy a measly Burger while the 1% (who would teach us all morals - according to Charlie Murray) are busily enjoying their nightly repastes of foie gras and lobster thermidor ....with 5 magnums of champagne on the side.
If the country was not an inequality -generating machine then Bernanke would have his head examined by the nearest real world shrink who'd inform him he's suffering from a species of statistical delusion. And then....as therapy....force him to grab $500 and take it to Hialeah, FL or Grand Junction, CO, or Henderson, NV to live for a month. Then see how far that dough stretches!
Of course, the investor and trader entourage are like on steroids with the news that despite these spikes in cost Ben is determined to keep interest rates near zero. And hey....if little guys or pedestrian savers don't like it...they can either get into the stock market.....or go suck salt! As the author of the WSJ piece so aptly put it:
"Unfortunately, average Americans have to pay their bills in the real world, not the statistical one."
Bingo! And especially not the Pareto statistical one!
But in the world of the Elite, the Political Elite - like the world of Ben Bernanke - real prices have zero meaning and all that matters is whether a biased statistical measure, weighted toward Vilfredo Pareto's confection.....errr....creation.....makes sense.
Pork chops now $4.95 a pound? The cheapest hamburger at $5.50? Even veggies' prices going up through the roof? Gasoline at $3.50 a gallon? What about the rent which just got raised by another $100 a month? How about the meds like I have to take that just went from $210 for 90 to $480?
Hey folks, are you gonna believe your lying eyes or Ben Bernanke?
According to Ben (WSJ, today, p. B1, 'Consumers Price in Real Cost of Living'), all such costs as food, housing - even exploding rent, as well as meds - which are referred to as "shelter costs" are - get this:"essentially made up numbers" to quote Mr. Bernanke. Well, here's an easy question: if all those shelter costs including groceries are "made up" numbers, how about we pay the costs of them in "made up money"? Maybe I will just present an ideational, invisible "made up" $50 bill next time I go to the check out counter. "Here, Mr. Clerk, see this fifty ....no, no you CAN see it if you try! It's not just in my head! But see, I am using this made up entity to purchase goods which have prices that - according to our Federal Reserve Chairman, constitute "made up numbers"!
Now, anyone care to speculate how far that gig would get me? How about either a fast trip to the funny farm, or more likely, getting booted out of the grocery mart one time.
Bottom line, according to Bernanke's statistics, higher costs of gasoline, groceries, rent and so forth - while not directly in our heads- are of no concern to him as regards inflation. After all, the CPI or consumer price index, is gamed to lowball the impact of these shelter costs so that even if inflation is really going up by about 2% a month, to Bernanke and his Pareto-stats it is really ZERO since his statistics (like the 'owner's equivalent rent") don't show up anything worth fretting over. Thus, he can jolly well continue to keep interest rates near zero - giving all the stock investors major Joneses - while savers and ordinary mortals who have to pay costs in the real world suck salt.
Of course, this is one reason why inequality reigns, and why - according to an article in the current Playboy, the US of A is an "inequality-generating machine". How could it not be when high rollers are granted such tax breaks that now CEOs earn 300 times the average worker, when it was barely 30 times in 1960? Or when ordinary folks must scrunch and scramble to even scrape together enough to buy a measly Burger while the 1% (who would teach us all morals - according to Charlie Murray) are busily enjoying their nightly repastes of foie gras and lobster thermidor ....with 5 magnums of champagne on the side.
If the country was not an inequality -generating machine then Bernanke would have his head examined by the nearest real world shrink who'd inform him he's suffering from a species of statistical delusion. And then....as therapy....force him to grab $500 and take it to Hialeah, FL or Grand Junction, CO, or Henderson, NV to live for a month. Then see how far that dough stretches!
Of course, the investor and trader entourage are like on steroids with the news that despite these spikes in cost Ben is determined to keep interest rates near zero. And hey....if little guys or pedestrian savers don't like it...they can either get into the stock market.....or go suck salt! As the author of the WSJ piece so aptly put it:
"Unfortunately, average Americans have to pay their bills in the real world, not the statistical one."
Bingo! And especially not the Pareto statistical one!
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